Planning. I seem to be on a kick about it lately. Yesterday I mentioned that I use typical planning strategies for my editing and now I want to talk about how much I adore it, and why.
I used to be a pantser, back when I first started writing. My first ever completed novel was a BSB self-insert fanfic about myself, my best friend [then and now... Impressive, right?], and obviously the Backstreet Boys. The whole premise was that we had somehow through the local radio station won a week-long stay in "The BSB House." Just us, two 13-year-old girls... And the guys. That's it. No media for some reality thing; no parents because we we minors. Nothing. Not to mention, "The BSB House?" That's a thing only a slash fangirl would dream up [or one in the making, like I was at that point in my life] because those poor boys spent enough time together on tour and recording that they definitely didn't need to live together too.
And I mean, let's ignore the fact that a radio station, no matter how good the band's rapport was with their "hometown hit station," would never give that prize away under any circumstances... And especially not to a minor.
Suspension of disbelief [or lack thereof] aside, that was my first novel. I came up with the idea on the fly one afternoon on my bus ride home from 7th grade, got home and pulled out the hand-me-down, Windows 3.1 running laptop [it didn't even have a color monitor, guys. it was 50 shades of green for me. #oldschool], and started writing.
I went through it day-by-day and ran through every potential interaction that could have happened between me and my Backstreet-beaus [yes, plural.] or my BFF and the fictional love of her life. I didn't discuss it with Jessica until it was written and she had read it. I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn't even like thinking about the story until I was home and able to write it, back when I was a decent student and didn't write novels in the margins of my "notes." I wanted it to be a surprise to me, too.
By the end, it was a 450k rambling monstrosity that was unfortunately lost in a computer death, and it's definitely for the best. I don't know if that novel ever could've been saved from the massive plot holes and terrible roundabout writing that resulted from not having any idea what was going on.
Eventually, I started looking at writing like an academic endeavor and outlined novels as if I was writing a three point essay. And then, things started coming together, but God was writing boring as sin. It was definitely beneficial for my writing, but I hated the actual act of doing it, so it was rather counterproductive.
However, I have since found a nice balance and it brings me a lot of peace knowing that my stories both start and end where I want them to, hitting key points along the way. There's still a lot of wiggle room for the plot to go in whatever way it develops naturally, because that was something missing from the academic approach, but there's guidance and direction and things just end up in a nice, neat little package and I love it. A lot.
This entry is for the WriYe Blogging Circle topic "Planning" for January 2014.
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